[Leviathan]

On Wednesday Nov 5th I finally got to No. 1. on the Conquered leaderboard of Riderstate. After months of struggling up the leaderboard and thinking this would be the time, I finally overhauled my main rival Carpi of Candas. I think some people knew what I had achieved because there was fireworks going off all along my route. Turning a 9km commute into a 31km busk along Ashton New Road finally got me over 4500 lands to the top spot.

If you haven’t heard of it, Riderstate is a territory based GPS cycling app. Speed here is not an issue, range and route are all important. The world is divided into 100m squares called ‘lands’; ride through a land three times or more in 60 days and you conquer the land. After joining the app in April, thanks to a post on Road.cc from Deadhead I have been playing almost constantly on every ride this summer. I don’t play in the morning on the way to work as I take the most efficient route every time, and conquered it on day 3, but come home time or at the weekend I can take any route I want.

It might seem like a gimmick riding against strangers and not even for speed, but by years end I should have covered 7000km, up a thousand on last year. Until I started using the app in the spring my riding was really flagging through the winter months and I would have been unprepared for the sportive events I set for myself. I also started using Strava after upgrading my phone. In combination they are a great spur. Riderstate requires me to go down different (and longer) routes to get home from work each night, by doing this I discover Strava segments I would never have ridden otherwise. When I come back to conquer the lands on the second and third rides I get another couple of bites at the Strava cherry having seen the start and finish of the segment. In a couple of months I have racked up over 500 segments and am starting to plan some kind of ‘segment enrichment’ challenge for myself for 2015.

Sorry if this seems like shameless own-trumpet-blowing 😀 but I have a good reason to promote the app. So far I have been competing in splendid isolation. I have one rival living somewhere around Worsley, we only cross paths in Sale and Dunham Massey. Now that I have been No.1. I wouldn’t mind a little more local competition, its open season. Undoubtedly having no one else around has helped me keep all of my acquisitions, whilst there are some people furiously dog fighting for the boulevards of Madrid and Barcelona who have no chance of getting to the top. The app is currently mostly based in Spain, though it is rapidly spreading out around the world. The UK seems to be No.2. in usage and I think I am the first non-Spanish player to go top. I am quite confident that I have never been No.1. at anything ever before, and maybe by the time you read this I won’t be ever again.

I hope some more people here try it. If you like Strava then why not also see your own little Riderstate kingdom grow?
https://www.riderstate.com/

Topic

[Manchestercyclist]

I’m also using it in
I’m also using it in Manchester, I got a bit bored of Strava and so far I’m the king of Oldham.

We can do battle over the city centre since I commute through there.

[rhodrigo27]

I just started using the app,
I just started using the app, and although its not well explained at the start, the FAQ section online quickly sorted out any queries. I have already racked up more Kms on my route home from work, as I am aiming for a #Advent500 (500km on or before the 24th Dec)
Its a lot of fun, and only appears to be 1 or 2 other users near me (Sheffield) so trying to get a head start!
i am enjoying cycling the new routes and planning them accordingly!

id recommend giving it a go, I just run it alongside strava. fun times ahead

[rhodrigo27]

I just started using the app,
I just started using the app, and although its not well explained at the start, the FAQ section online quickly sorted out any queries. I have already racked up more Kms on my route home from work, as I am aiming for a #Advent500 (500km on or before the 24th Dec)
Its a lot of fun, and only appears to be 1 or 2 other users near me (Sheffield) so trying to get a head start!
i am enjoying cycling the new routes and planning them accordingly!

id recommend giving it a go, I just run it alongside strava. fun times ahead

[Leviathan]

Alan Tullett wrote:I did try

Alan Tullett wrote:

I did try using it when it first came out but it didn’t work but I might give it a go now. I tend to use different routes home in any case and a couple of routes to work, which are about the same. If you want more fun with segments just try to improve your veloviewer score, 76 ain’t that high! I gave up at 93 as I lost interest and I haven’t paid the tenner to subscribe. I prefer setting goals on Strava as I went from trial to premium and I’m trying to be top 3 for my age group in every significant climb around Cambridge, which is not too demanding but there are a few!

Oh get you. I know my segments could do with an improvement, I am planning a Strava 250 for next summer, where I go around and stuff every segment I can find and turn them all into top 100s and turn my current 100s into Koms, etc. Meanwhile I am using riderstate to find as many routes and log anything at all for the strava segments. Try the app again, it has had some early logging glitches but is massively improved.

[Alan Tullett]

I did try using it when it
I did try using it when it first came out but it didn’t work but I might give it a go now. I tend to use different routes home in any case and a couple of routes to work, which are about the same. If you want more fun with segments just try to improve your veloviewer score, 76 ain’t that high! I gave up at 93 as I lost interest and I haven’t paid the tenner to subscribe. I prefer setting goals on Strava as I went from trial to premium and I’m trying to be top 3 for my age group in every significant climb around Cambridge, which is not too demanding but there are a few!

[Leviathan]

In the last 24 hours three
In the last 24 hours three new people has stolen my lands in Manchester. Guess my days at the top are numbered. I can’t defend the entire city. One of them is called Exile, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him around these parts. Thanks Road.cc; Bring it on!!

PS, anyone joined know how many players there are at the moment?

[Leviathan]

And I though no one cared. It
And I though no one cared. It works well with Strava. It is very motivating to get KOMs on Strava and move up the tables on Riderstate. Frankly most people are not going to be Cat racers, so finding other way of setting targets helps. And there are no events setting of from my office every evening. Speed is not important, just keep riding, keep riding…

[Tony Farrelly]

Sounds like more fun than
Sounds like more fun than Strava, not that I’ve ever used that

[Kapelmuur]

During Peter Schmeichel’s
During Peter Schmeichel’s time as Manchester United goalkeeper the coaches started using player stats as performance indicators, one of the stats was distance covered. Schmeichel wasn’t impressed and didn’t believe this helped to measure effectiveness.
So, while the ball was in his opponent’s half, he would run around his penalty area consequently becoming the player who ran furthest in every game.

[Leviathan]

Here are some screenshots of
Here are some screenshots of the app showing my territories and leaderboard. My username is Leviathan, and I have finally risen (much cooler username, shame I didn’t think of it earlier for road.cc.) You are now part of my dominion.

[Author]

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